The Story of Stuff

Leonard's book-length version of her viral documentary, tracing the hidden life of the everyday 'stuff' we buy and throw away, and its cost to environment, economy and health. A galvanizing entry point to the SDF's Sustainability and Economics mottos — consumption as a system that can be redesigned. Based on Leonard's short animated documentary of the same name, the book follows everyday items such as bottled water, mobile phones and jeans through the materials economy, from extraction and production to disposal. It argues that there is an identifiable system behind patterns of consumption and waste, and closes with concrete steps readers can take, individually and politically, toward sustainability, community health and economic justice.